


Now all the marks have settled on my skin (from all the different places that I've been)

by eleventhousandstars



Series: Emma's Juliantina Appreciation Week #2 [2]
Category: Amar a Muerte (TV), Juliantina - Fandom
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Tattoos, F/F, Fluff, Soulmates, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24153070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleventhousandstars/pseuds/eleventhousandstars
Summary: AU where every time you fall in love with someone, a tattoo appears on your skin. Juliana and Valentina have only known each other for a few days, but they feel comfortable enough in each other's presence to have a conversation about the meaning behind their tattoos.
Relationships: Valentina Carvajal & Juliana Valdés, Valentina Carvajal/Juliana Valdés
Series: Emma's Juliantina Appreciation Week #2 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742257
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84





	Now all the marks have settled on my skin (from all the different places that I've been)

**Author's Note:**

> Juliantina Appreciation Week #2  
> Day 2 - AUs
> 
> AU where every time you fall in love with someone, a tattoo appears on your skin. The tattoo always means something significant about the person it’s for and they can appear due to love you have for friends, family members, strangers, celebrities as well as soulmates. (I stole the idea from something I saw on tumblr!)

....................

“That must be for your biggest love.” Valentina pointed to Juliana’s largest tattoo, a swallow on her back. “Your mom?”

“My mom.” Juliana nodded.

It felt weird to her to show it off to someone, usually she kept her swallow tattoo hidden under a t-shirt. Because she couldn’t swim and wasn’t usually about to jump in a swimming pool, there was usually no other reason for her to reveal it to anyone. But somehow Valentina had a pool at her house. And somehow, Valentina had persuaded Juliana they should go swimming.

As they were getting ready, the subject of their tattoos inevitably came up before they had even changed into swimwear. And although Valentina had offered the younger girl a swimming costume, Juliana was comfortable in the presence of her new friend Valentina, comfortable enough to take off her jumper and sit across from Valentina wearing a tank top. It was the most exposed she had been to anyone apart from her mom from maybe ever, but Juliana liked the feeling of revealing a little more about herself to someone she trusted, even if she had only known Valentina for a few days.

Juliana turned so that Valentina could take a closer look.

Valentina trailed her eyes over the ink and then the tip of her finger. Juliana felt a blush creep onto her cheeks as Valentina traced the outline of bird’s wings. Sometimes she felt self-conscious about the tattoo. It took up most of the skin on her upper back, and was titled at an angle, so the right wing extended to her right shoulder and the ink that represented the bird’s head skimmed her collar bone.

The overwhelming majority of people had tattoos for their mothers, and yet Juliana’s one was the biggest she or her mom had ever heard of. It was one of the reasons she always kept it so hidden. When it appeared when Juliana was two years old, her mother had showed it off, boasting about how her daughter’s love was like nothing anybody had seen before.

Chino hated it. He hated it a lot. And he made that point very clear to Lupita. So almost as quickly as it had appeared, Lupe didn’t show it off anymore, keeping it hidden from Chino and anybody who could ask what it signified. And when Juliana reached the age where she could understand what it meant and make her own decisions about it, she kept it hidden too, not wanting the wrath of Chino and not wanting the world to know she had such a large indicator of her mother’s love.

Juliana would love to defend its size as being because she hated her father, and therefore her mother’s tattoo had to represent twice the parental affection, but it was more than that. The bond she shared with her mother was larger than replacing an awful father. Lupe was 18 when Juliana was born, and now Juliana was the same age, her mother felt more like an older sister more than anything else. Juliana didn’t need a best friend or a boyfriend to feel loved, she simply needed to return home to her mother.

Valentina couldn’t help the jealously that grew as she examined the tattoo. The one for her own mother wasn’t as big and wasn’t as prominent either. But she was still proud of it.

“This is my one for my mom.” Valentina said, turning her leg and showing off the tattoo on the back of her left calf. It depicted a camera and had faded a little over time.

“I like it.”

“It’s a camera because she always used to take pictures of me.”

They both stared at it in silence for a few minutes. Juliana picked up on the past tense Valentina was using and concluded that the reason it was faded was because Val’s mother was no longer alive. She knew that’s what happened to tattoos when the person who caused it had passed away but that hurt her a little inside. It seemed awfully cruel of the world to do that. Valentina’s love surely wouldn’t have faded too just because her mother had passed away, so why should the tattoo fade?

Juliana raked her eyes over the other girl’s body. Valentina’s body was gorgeous, she had a model’s figure, an aesthetically beautiful body that would make anyone jealous. And it was also covered in tattoos, Juliana had noticed that as soon as she had met Valentina a few days ago. That day, she had counted twenty within the first few minutes of meeting the older girl. Now Juliana could examine them more closely, and noted how they ranged in size, some of them being miniscule, like the black mark just below and left of her right eye. At first glance, Juliana had thought it was a beauty spot, it was only at this close distance that she could see it was a star.

“You have so many.” She whispered.

Juliana hesitantly lifted up her hand and ran her fingers down Valentina’s left arm. Goosebumps appeared as she slowly trailed her fingers along the skin. Juliana counted the tattoos as she went. Curiously, there was a large space left on Valentina’s left shoulder, but the rest of the arm was dotted with tattoos. One, two, three… four, five… six, seven… eight. Those were just on the arm, there were five more on her hand.

“How many do you have in total?” Juliana asked curiously.

“On my last count I had 64.” Valentina replied. “But sometimes, they appear without me noticing, so I don’t really know.”

Juliana’s mouth dropped open. She had never heard of anyone having more than fifty tattoos before, and that was elderly people she had heard of, gaining that number of tattoos over a course of a lifetime. She looked over Valentina’s body once more and then dropped her gaze to her own lap, feeling shy at her intrigue about Valentina’s body and the fact that she had a pathetic number of tattoos herself.

“People say I love too easily.” Valentina admitted quietly. “And sometimes that means people take advantage of me.”

Juliana looked up and frowned. Why would anyone take advantage of someone as nice as Valentina?

“I’m sorry.” She said, feeling like those words couldn’t quite cover the sorrow she felt for the older girl.

“Don’t be.” Valentina smiled. She looked down at Juliana’s body and realised she had only ever seen one other on her body, a daisy on her wrist. She wondered if there were more hiding in more intimate places. “How many do you have?”

“Only four.” Juliana replied seriously, before sighing. “I’m the opposite, I don’t seem to love that easily.” 

“I’m sorry.”

Juliana shrugged.

“I don’t mind.” 

Valentina lifted up her hand and gently caressed the wing of Juliana’s swallow with the back of her fingers. She loved how big it was. Valentina might have tattoos in number, but that meant they were all relatively small, and she had never seen a tattoo as big as Juliana’s swallow. She loved the fact it extended across her back and shoulder and peeked over her front.

She also admired the level of detail. The ink was a work of art, accurately depicting a swallow in flight, and great care had been provided with every feather. As she studied it, she had one question on her mind.

_“Why a swallow?”_

She wanted to voice her curiosities but caught herself from doing so. From what she had learnt about Juliana from the short time they had known each other was that the younger girl seemed to have some things that she kept very close to her heart, and this was probably one of them. Even though Juliana had taken off her jumper and was allowing Valentina to examine her skin, the question felt too personal to ask.

“I know about the daisy.” Valentina said, dropping her hand to caress the skin on Juliana’s right wrist and briefly running her fingers over the ink. “You said that ones for a girl you knew as a child… but where are your other two?”

Juliana immediately moved to lift up her shirt. A hand on her wrist stopped her and she looked up to see Valentina looking back at her with gentle eyes.

“You don’t have to show me.” She explained, knowing that some people kept some of their tattoos hidden. “Just tell me.”

Juliana smiled at the kindness in Valentina’s eyes and shrugged.

“I _want_ to show you.”

Juliana bit her lip as Valentina retracted her grip on her wrist. Juliana was suddenly nervous, thinking about it, she didn’t think anyone else apart from her mother had seen the two tattoo she was just about to show Valentina.

Valentina gasped happily when she saw the small tattoo of a needle and thread adorning Juliana’s ribs.

“I love it.” Valentina said, reaching out to touch it gently. She felt like it really represented Juliana’s love for fashion design. “Who’s it for?”

Juliana smiled as she recalled the story.

“When I was ten years old, the lady next door was moving out and asked if I wanted to have her old sewing machine.” Juliana explained. “She said she always smiled when she saw me sitting on the front porch with my needle and thread. She said that it was nice to see someone sewing away with such concentration on their face, and she said that if anyone deserved her old sewing machine, it was me… since that day, I knew wanted to design clothes when I was older, hence the needle and thread.”

Valentina smiled at the story.

“That’s so sweet.”

Juliana nodded in agreement before letting go of her shirt and letting in cover her ribs again. She felt like Valentina had stared at it enough, even though truthfully, Valentina wanted to stare at it more. Any excuse to stare at Juliana’s skin was a welcome invitation. Juliana rested her hands on her shorts and tugged them down slightly, revealing her right hip.

On the side of her body, just below her waistline, was a stack of books.

“I love that one too.” Valentina said. “So, you like reading?”

Juliana smiled.

“It’s for my literature teacher when I was in high school.” She explained. “It was never one of my best subjects, until I was 16 and I was in her class. I found the work hard, but she made it fun, and she introduced me to so many worlds that I could escape to… I could open Harry Potter and escape into a magical universe if things were hard at home.”

Juliana swallowed. ‘If things were hard at home’ was a way of putting Chino’s shouting, violent nature and drunkenness lightly, but she didn’t want Valentina to ask more questions. One day she felt like she could admit those things to here, but not today.

Valentina noticed Juliana’s confession but didn’t know what to say, averting her gaze and frowning as she felt awkward about how to approach the subject.

Juliana quickly noticed how Valentina wanted to ask more about her words, so she changed the subject.

“Do you like Harry Potter?” She asked, and then felt worried if perhaps that it was a childish thing to enjoy.

Luckily, Valentina smiled wide.

“I love it!” She replied. That was the truth, it was one of her favourite books when she was a child, and it felt nice to talk about it again with someone. “What Hogwarts house are you in?” She asked, before suddenly shaking her head and reaching out to grab Juliana’s arm, begging her not to reply. “No wait, let me guess!”

Valentina narrowed her eyes in thought, but it only took her another second to guess, shouting her answer like she was the sorting hat.

“Gryffindor!”

Juliana grinned.

“Yup!”

“Ok, now you should guess mine!” Valentina replied in an excited voice.

Juliana took a little longer to come to her decision.

“Hufflepuff?” She asked tentatively. “But also, Ravenclaw?”

Valentina grinned at the fact that Juliana had got her Hogwarts house spot on.

“Yep, I am a Ravenpuff!” She nodded happily. “Every test I do, the result is always either Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff and I can’t decide which one I would prefer, so now I’m both.”

“You’re a Ravenpuff.” Juliana smiled. Only a geek about Harry Potter would know it was possible to belong to two houses, and she was glad to have found a fellow geek in Valentina.

“There’s also some Slytherin in me.” Valentina admitted. “My older sister is definitely a Slytherin, my dad is half Slytherin, half Ravenclaw, whereas my brother is a Hufflepuff, like my mom was.”

“It’s so cool you’ve figured out your whole family.” Juliana replied.

“What about your family?” Valentina asked. “You must know what Hogwarts houses your parents are in?”

“Oh, my parents are muggles.” Juliana replied quickly. She didn’t want to ruin the fun, but ever since she read the books, that was the theory she liked the most.

But she regretted being so crass, she could see Valentina wondering more and more about what Juliana meant by that and the subject matter was nearing the topic of her home life, and Juliana wanted to avoid that.

“Do you think it’s weird that I ‘loved’ one of my teachers?” Juliana asked quietly, pulling her shorts back up, obscuring the view of the books and trying to forget about her parents and their crappy love and the fact she had no one to share her love for Harry Potter with until now. “I worry sometimes that it’s weird.”

“I don’t think so.” Valentina replied, before smiling. “I knew somebody who had a tattoo of a globe on their arm because they had a crush on their geography teacher.”

“That’s so awkward!” Juliana laughed, pleased that the subject matter had moved on to something happier.

Valentina nodded as she laughed again.

“They always said it was actually because of their older sister’s love for travel, and how she had just gone away to explore the world.” Valentina said. “But we knew the truth, we could always see when they blushed as the teacher walked into the room.”

“I’m glad I’ve never had a crush like that!” Juliana replied.

Valentina nodded gladly, “Me too!”

Juliana smiled again before frowning as she thought of a question she wanted to ask. It took her a minute to gather her nerves to actually ask it.

“Are there any tattoos on your body that you don’t like?” She asked quietly.

Juliana had always feared that. Tattoos appeared on your body without your consent, and that reality scared Juliana into liking someone. Maybe that’s why she had never had a crush and maybe that’s why she found it so hard to love someone. She knew her mother had a large tattoo for Chino and she knew Lupe had a love hate relationship with it, depending on whether Chino was being nice or horrible to her. Juliana had hated that, and it had manifested in the way she went about her life. She was a quiet person anyway, but from an early age, Juliana had kept herself to herself, being hesitant to love and trust other people, just in case they turned out to be not who she thought they were.

Valentina shrugged her shoulders. Juliana would have been satisfied in the way Valentina had answered her, if it wasn’t for the way Valentina averted her gaze as she lay down on the bed they were sitting on. She could see Valentina was thinking about something – maybe someone – and Juliana kept her patience and let Valentina formulate an answer.

“Luckily, I eventually forgive people, so I guess the answer is no.” Valentina replied as a whisper.

Juliana could sense some hesitancy in Valentina’s words. She didn’t want to accuse her of anything, but it felt like Valentina was lying about something. Juliana didn’t press the issue, instead she gently lay down next to the other girl and joined Valentina in staring at the ceiling.

After a few minutes, Valentina turned her body on its side. Juliana’s body followed within a few seconds. They stared at each other in silence for a few more minutes before Valentina spoke again.

“I’m going to tell you something.” She said. “And you have to promise you won’t tell anyone else.”

“I promise.” Juliana nodded back seriously.

“Pinky promise?” Valentina asked.

Juliana looked down to see Valentina’s hand was ready near hers, the littlest finger, the only finger with no tattoos on it, was sticking out ready to confirm their agreement. Juliana smiled at the sight. She hadn’t made a pinky promise in years, but she gladly made one now.

“Pinky promise.” Juliana agreed, joining her pinky finger together with Valentina’s and shaking their hand gently.

Valentina seemed to relax a whole lot more and began telling Juliana a story. Juliana continued to smile at how safe, happy and content she felt in the presence of the other girl.

They spent the rest of the evening lying on Valentina’s bed admitting things to each other that they hadn’t ever admitted to anyone else, both safe in the knowledge that the other one would never reveal the other’s secrets.

The next morning, after parting and going to bed on different sides of the city the previous evening, both Juliana and Valentina woke up to a new tattoo. It was exactly the same size and format, showing two hands with their pinky fingers linked in a promise. Juliana’s tattoo sat over her heart and Valentina’s sat on her left shoulder, in a place that almost seemed to have been previously left clear for this specific reason.

As soon as she spotted the tattoo, Valentina reached for her phone and immediately dialled the younger girl’s number.

Juliana picked up after only one ring.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

....................

**Author's Note:**

> I found this one challenging to write as I wouldn't normally write an AU but I also had a lot of fun trying something new!
> 
> As always, leave kudos or a comment if you enjoyed it :)
> 
> Come say hi on Twitter @eleventhousands  
> Or tumblr @eleventhousandstars
> 
> Title is a lyric from Lucky by AURORA. Such a beautiful song, and was the only lyric I could find from all the songs in my library that half fitted the fic haha!
> 
> Update 20/05/20: Hello! It's been just over a week since I first posted this and I'd just like to say thank you, all the responses were lovely! Lots of you have been asking about me continuing this, and I'll be honest, I had originally planned this as a one-shot with no plans for future chapters. That means I can't promise any further chapters right now, but never say never - at some point I might write a second chapter, who knows!
> 
> For now, I offer you the following things to think about -  
> 1) Do the girls know the other one also got a tattoo overnight?  
> 2) Do you think they know what it symbolises? We all know Juliantina are soulmates, but do they know that? Or do they think they're just best friends?
> 
> Happy theorising!


End file.
